Wings of Earth- Season One

by Eric Michael Craig

  “I want to see your security handlers standing in the hangar deck when our shuttle boards. Unarmed. Then, nobody else blinks sidewise or violence will ensue. Do you comprehend exactly what I am saying to you, Captain Walker?”

  “I do,” he said. “Security up front and no resistance, or it will get ugly.”

  “Excellent,” Jetaar said. “Play nice and I might let you make it home, otherwise you will be learning to breathe vacuum.” The screen went dark as he cut the comm from his end.

  “He’s lying,” Ammo said.

  “So are we.”

  “They are closing to optimal weapons range,” Marti said.

  “They’re crossing in front of us and will come up slightly to port,” Ammo added.

  “He’s probably looking to target our generators,” Ethan said.

  “It’ll also give them all six guns on us. They’re packing four high output laser turrets and a plasma turret on the nose,” she said.

  “Eriksen. Are you ready down there?”

  “First round is charged and loaded. Second round is charging,” she said.

  “We’ll need to depress the deck in under a minute,” he said. “We’ll hold off opening the doors as long as we can.”

  “I’ve got two of my men in EVA suits to swap over the capacitance banks as soon as we unload the first shot. Other than me and your two handlers, the rest of my team has pulled back to the passenger deck and are ready to hold if they get aboard.”

  “A type three shuttle just departed and is swinging around behind them,” Ammo said. “ETA sixty seconds.”

  “Your firing arc may have a shuttle in it when the doors open,” Ethan said.

  “Won’t be an issue,” Eriksen said. “If they get in the way, it will be a bad day for them.”

  “If you say so,” the captain said. “Just make sure you get their power couplings in one. They’ve got a lot of hurt they can shove off on us if you don’t.”

  “Your AA just gave us a live link to your proximity grid, and we tied the targeting controls to the feed. Other than charge rate, this is almost like a walk on the promenade.”

  “Stand by. About another minute,” he said.

  “We’re ready on your order, Captain,” Eriksen said. “Let’s burn us some bad guys.”

  “Where the hell did they have that hidden,” Ethan said as he turned his attention back to the main screen and watched the shuttle accelerate away from the Blackwing.

  “It is likely that they converted the cargo hold to a hangar deck. A type three shuttle would just fit inside,” Marti said.

  “That won’t fit in our hangar, will it?” Ammo asked.

  “Not with our shuttles in there,” Ethan said. “I don’t think they are planning to board through the deck.”

  “Then what are they doing?”

  “Marti scan that shuttle,” he said. “Are they carrying breaching charges?”

  “Their flight attitude indicates that they may be attempting to conceal something. They are keeping their nose angle low,” it said. “I cannot detect unusual hardware on the underside of the shuttle as they are also generating a scattering field that limits penetrating sensors.”

  “Should I arm the repelling guns?” Ammo asked.

  “If Jetaar sees those doors open, he’ll rip us up.”

  “If they’re carrying charges, we’re fragged anyway,” she said, tapping her fingers nervously beside the weapons control screen.

  “If they jump sidewise, then we’ll risk tipping our hand, but for now we’ve got to play like we’ve got iron eggs,” he said, shaking his head and letting out a slow sigh. “Nuko if that shuttle breaks off its approach that will be our trigger,” he said.

  “Cando. You call it,” she said.

  “Sergeant, ready to open the doors. Lights down and let’s depress the bay.”

  “We’re clear, and the hangar is dark,” she said.

  “Marti start cracking the bay doors and let the residual air vent. The condensation fog will give us a little visibility cover until they get close enough with that shuttle to turn on their landing lights.”

  “The hangar doors need to be forty percent open to prevent damage to the seals by the proton radiation from the beam,” the AA said. “It will take fifteen seconds to clear.”

  “There they go,” Ammo said. “They’re rolling and deflecting down under us.”

  “It’s time to dance,” he said. “Arm the underside repelling lasers only.” This was the first time they’d ever had to power up the defensive systems on the Olympus Dawn and the captain felt the weight of what they were about to do.

  He shook his head several times to clear his mind and Ammo glanced at him. “Are you alright?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “Not really.”

  “We’ll get through this and then you can think it through. Focus on the next couple minutes. That’s all that matters.”

  “Yah, I know,” he cleared his throat and smiled.

  “Jetaar’s jinking down,” she said. “He’ll see our gun ports are open.”

  “Doors clear,” Marti said.

  “Eriksen, FIRE!” he yelled as urgency fed power to his voice that he didn’t feel. “Nuko coils up. Rene hit the charge. It’s showtime.”

  The blinding violet and orange flash of the proton beam leapt out from the hangar bay, holding for almost a quarter second before Ethan saw an explosion right below the nose of the ship. The shuttle had been in the way of the weapon and Eriksen was right, it didn’t matter. The shuttle disintegrated into a cloud of expanding gas and debris before the beam ripped through it and tore into the wing of the pirate ship.

  Fire erupted from the top and the bottom of the Blackwing as Ethan slammed the Olympus Dawn forward.

  “What the frak are you doing?” Nuko and Ammo both yelled as he closed the distance straight toward the enemy ship.

  “Their port side weapons systems are down,” Marti reported, its calm voice almost soothing the adrenaline jolt that threatened to have Ethan standing at the pilot station.

  “We’re closing to weapons range,” he said. “Prepare to open fire with the lasers. You’ll get one strafing run before we pivot out of the way.”

  “What?”

  “Their starboard guns might be live,” he said. “Their coils are still hot on that side. I need to get us across their hull. The superstructure will block their beams if we stay to the dead side. Until they can maneuver.”

  “You’re insane,” Ammo hissed as the reaction engines overpowered the DSL’s coils and the g-forces started to bleed through.

  “Target their plasma turret first, then go for the coils on the downside. The more damage we can do…” The acceleration crushed the air out of his lungs, and he swallowed hard, squeezing his stomach muscles to keep from passing out.

  He slid his hands over the controls and the Dawn rolled to open its belly up so that all eight of the low power lasers on the underside would have a shot.

  “Holy frak, I can’t see what I’m shooting at,” Ammo growled.

  “I have the weapons,” Marti said. “Targeting their plasma turret. Three seconds.”

  “As soon as you get the shot… I’m breaking starboard and then down… to put their…” the acceleration crushed the last of his breath out of his lungs and he struggled to keep his hands on the controls.

  “They are attempting to track us with the forward weapons,” Marti said. “Our angular motion relative to them is exceeding the ability of the turret to rotate. We are inside their firing arc. I am opening fire.”

  “That’s the idea,” he puffed out. “Breaking now!”

  The ship lurched to the right and then dizzyingly rotated as he pulled the nose up and away.

  “The coils will be hot in thirty seconds,” Rene yelled. Pain edged his voice.

  “Straight line from here,” Ethan grunted as he dropped his hands into his lap and tried to keep his eyes focused on the coil charge indicator. He had to keep from passing out until the mai
ns came online and he could kick in the field.

  “The Blackwing appears to be dead in space,” Marti announced. “Their primary power and coils are offline. They might attempt to get a shot off, but it appears they are trying to shunt the weapons power back into the internal grid and restore life support.”

  “Good shooting, Eriksen,” Ethan hissed.

  “Eriksen’s down,” Angel said, surprising him by answering for the artillery commander. She was breathing hard but sounded almost normal. Of course, they’re closer to the DSL coils so the field is stronger and they’re not getting as much effect from the acceleration, Ethan realized. “She landed bad and broke a leg. Quinn’s carrying her up to the MedBay to get her looked at.”

  “Any other injuries?” he gasped.

  “Not on this deck,” she said. “We’re closing the hangar doors and going to see how much damage you did to the gun with your wild-ass gyrations, sir.”

  “Yah. Sorry,” he said.

  “Can… ease… off,” Ammo grunted.

  “We are approaching the edge of their weapons range,” Marti confirmed. “They appear to be unable to pursue.”

  Ethan tried to lean forward but couldn’t get his arms to move to reach the panel. “Do it,” he said, his voice was only a faint whisper that he hoped the AA could hear.

  “Reducing power,” it said as the bone crushing fist of acceleration eased.

  “Go on the coils,” Rene said.

  The captain nodded. It was almost impossible to get enough air to speak. A split second later, the mains kicked in and gravity fell back to normal.

  “Let’s get the hell out of here,” he whispered.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ethan stood in the MedBay watching Kaycee run the osteo-regenerator over Sergeant Eriksen’s leg. “I’d like to keep the gun mounted until we get to where we’re going,” he said.

  “As far as I’m concerned, you’re the boss right now,” the sergeant said.

  “I’d feel better knowing we’ve got some firepower in case they get repairs made fast enough to come after us.”

  “I don’t think anybody would argue that, Captain,” she said. “We can pull another pair of capacitance banks from the cargo and keep them all pre-charged. It will give us four shots if it comes down to another dance.”

  “Let’s hope that doesn’t happen, but we don’t know if Jetaar is operating alone out here,” he said. “I’m not overly fuzzy about having to punch it out with another raider, especially if we lose the element of surprise.”

  “I’m sure he soiled himself when we opened up on him though,” she said, laughing and causing the doctor to glare as she shifted position.

  “Hold still or you might end up with your kneecap fused to your thighbone,” she warned.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Eriksen said, making an exaggerated expression of terror but winking at the captain.

  “Let’s do that,” he said. “As soon as you’re on your feet.”

  “About two hours,” Kaycee said. “If you leave me alone and let me do my job.”

  “Absolutely,” he said, nodding at the sergeant. “Drinks are on me when we get to ground,” he added as he turned and headed back toward the ConDeck.

  “Boss, we’re receiving the location of the dig now,” Nuko said over his comm channel.

  “Good set a course, best possible speed. I want to keep putting klicks between us and Jetaar.”

  “We could run at cruise if you want to risk it.”

  He considered it for several seconds before he decided. “No, let’s not. It’d be nogo to survive the pirates and have an iceball take us out. Just push to the maximum we can make with a minimum safety margin. Then if they try to run us down, we’re close enough to the redline to make them think twice.”

  “Understood. That would be about three quarters light speed if we let Marti drive,” she said.

  “What does that give us as an ETA?”

  “Thirty-seven hours and eleven minutes,” the AA said.

  “Do it,” he said.

  “Ammo sent Makhbar a message telling him we had trouble and that he owes us for high-risk duty,” Nuko said. “She thinks you should be here when he responds.”

  “What’s the propagation delay to his location?” he asked.

  “Just under 160 seconds both ways,” she said.

  “How long ago did she send the comm?”

  “Almost five minutes,” she said. “His response should be here soon. Depending on how long it takes him to recover.”

  “Recover? Frak, did she tell him off?” he asked.

  “She read him the rough edge,” Nuko said. “I didn’t know some of the words she used even existed.”

  “Damn. How does it make sense to piss off the client?” He doubled his speed to the lift, not that it mattered since she’d already done the damage.

  “She says they’re casual and if she didn’t talk to him like that, he’d be suspicious something was wrong,” she said.

  “Alright, I’m on my way,” he said, tapping out of his comm link and stopping abruptly to avoid a collision with the lower half of Quintan’s body.

  “Take this with you,” the handler said, holding out a tall cup of something. It looked like condensed lubricating oil.

  “What is it?”

  “Something that Marti and the doc cooked up,” he said. “It’s special enzymes and stuff I didn’t follow when they explained it. They said it would help you rejuvenate after the bone crushing.”

  He lifted it to his nose and choked. It smelled worse than three-day-old pseudojo from the old broken VAT dispenser. “I’m supposed to drink this?”

  “That’s what they said. I’m just the delivery boy.” He grinned out of one side of his face.

  Ethan shook his head and handed the cup back to Quinn. “Not going to happen. Find a place and dump it where won’t kill the recyclers, and we’ll tell them I was a good boy and drank my oil.”

  “I thought so,” he said. “I had to follow orders, but after I tried it, I figured you’d decide better. It tastes worse than it smells.”

  “I don’t think that’s possible,” he said.

  “Worse than castor oil in week old goat milk,” Quintan said.

  “Whatever that is,” Ethan said. “If it’s in that class of gross, remind me to pass if it ever shows up on the menu.”

  As the handler took the vile substance away, the captain ducked into the lift shaking his head.

  “You are aware that I know you didn’t drink the rejuvenating elixir we prepared for you,” Marti said.

  Ethan sighed. “That’s the problem with an omniscient AA, isn’t it? No secrets. Ever.”

  “You should drink it. The enzymes in the drink would help you with the chemical imbalances that remain in your system after your exposure to high-g acceleration,” it said. “However, if you order me not to inform the doctor, I will keep your secret.”

  When he stepped out onto the ConDeck, Ammo was standing behind his usual chair glaring at the frozen image of Dr. Alaran Makhbar with enough intensity that he could feel it before she looked in his direction. He was much younger looking than Ethan expected, with shaggy jet black hair and dark eyes. His face showed little emotion other than a smirk that set Ethan’s jaw to lock down mode, but at least it didn’t look like the doctor was pissed.

  “This is the flatch that nearly got us all killed,” she said. “At least he’s acknowledged that he knows we’re not going to roll over about it.”

  “Were you that rough on him?”

  She shrugged. “Not as hard as I’ve been with him in the past. Just enough to make sure he understands playtime is over.”

  “What did he say?” he asked.

  “Marti, please replay the message,” she said.

  Makhbar’s image jumped back to an earlier point in time and he did something with his face that vaguely resembled a smile.

  “First, congratulations on surviving your encounter with the pirate vessel. I understand tha
t this was an unexpected turn of events, but I am curious as to why you didn’t simply run. Choosing to engage a renegade captain, one known to be rather ruthless, was a foolish decision. A more effective strategy would have been to dump the cargo to prevent him from taking any more of my people.”

  “More of his people?” Ethan growled at the screen. His anger exploded and he saw red.

  “I’m afraid I may have already lost a science vessel and crew to this pirate, and while we do not know for sure if this is the cause, the Saknussemm is currently missing. It was due to arrive here over a month ago. Until your encounter with Jetaar, we had no way of knowing there was even a remote possibility.”

  He drew in a deep breath and let it out. “He didn’t think this was something we needed to know?”

  “Apparently not,” Ammo said.

  “I understand the jeopardy you faced and while I do not think you acted wisely in this instance, I do acknowledge that you are entitled to hazard pay for your troubles. I will agree to this additional fee with the following stipulations.”

  “How much did you tell him risking our lives was worth?” he asked as he stared at the screen.

  “Double the originally negotiated amount,” she said. “Plus, costs incurred in the delay at Escabosa.”

  Ethan’s head snapped in her direction. They were already getting double what a run like this would have normally paid.

  Makhbar leaned back in the chair in his office and steepled his fingers in front of his face as the message went on. “My counteroffer is that I will pay the additional amount, less damages. I understand you broke into the cargo and mounted one of my guns to your ship. If it is undamaged, then that won’t be a problem. If it has sustained damage in any manner, I will remove the replacement cost for the weapon from your fee.

  “Likewise, since the sergeant of my security squad was hurt in the exchange, I will have her looked over by my chief medical officer to make sure she is undamaged. While I am sure your medic is providing adequate care, any doctor who’d be willing to take a posting on a freighter would be the kind unable to find better work. I’d prefer to have someone more qualified certify her as able to return to duty. I will insist that any additional care she requires come out of the fee as well.”